WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina, June 23 (Reuters) – Germany’s Jamie Leweling promised on Tuesday he would cut his hair into the triangle fringe made popular in 2002 by Brazil’s Ronaldo, after the midfielder changed his profile picture on social media with an AI one in which he sports the former World Cup winner’s iconic hairstyle.
Ronaldo, who played with that haircut en route to a 2002 title win with Brazil, sent Leweling a signed Brazil shirt on Tuesday after being informed of the midfielder’s doctored profile picture.
“You saw I changed my profile picture with this Ronaldo haircut. It was a bit of fun but it got so much attention that the real Ronaldo sent me a shirt. A Brazilian reporter gave it to me,” Leweling told a press conference, lifting up the signed Brazil jersey.
He then promised to mimic the two-time World Cup winner should Germany win the World Cup.
“Until the final there are still a few games to go but if we win the final then I will make that haircut. This is my promise to Germany,” he said.
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The Germans have secured top spot in the group with two wins over Curacao and Ivory Coast and will play their round of 32 match in Boston.
They are still waiting to see which team they will face but are unlikely to rest key players against Ecuador on Thursday as they look to make it three wins from three Group E matches.
“Ecuador have players who play at the highest level in Europe. They may not have had a good start to this World Cup. We will have solutions,” Leweling said.
One of Germany’s strengths is their depth off the bench with substitute Deniz Undav scoring both goals in the 2-1 win over Ivory Coast and fellow substitute Nadiem Amiri delivering one of the assists. Undav, a teammate of Leweling’s at VfB Stuttgart, scored three goals and had two assists in the first two matches.
“It’s great to see Deniz up there (on the scorers’ list). It is fully deserved,” Leweling said. “We have a very good team spirit and it seems to come across. On the bench we have fun, we talk a lot. When we come on, we are excited. It worked well for the substitutes on Saturday.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
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